I will be purchasing a new desktop to replace my HP Pavilion (5 years old). I will most likely order through HP again. I am requesting advice concerning the processor, video card, memory, etc... (any configurable component that I will be able to choose).

My current job scope is the production of photo and video montages in SD using Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0. I will most likely be upgrading to the latest version of Adobe Premiere Pro and may also produce in HD and will want a desktop that will work well with this configuration.

I can tell you it works on Pro. I don't know about the other versions, because Ultimate is too bloated for me and the Home edition does not support enough memory and lacks some network capability that I need. Microsoft will have a detailed page outlining the differences between the different versions.

I decided to go with an HP configurable desktop, either the HPE-170t or the HPE-180t.

Both have lots of options for the graphics card, and I am undecided as to which option is best. I have read the links concerning PC components and see that the following are all acceptable: ATI HD 5670, ATI HD4870 (ATI 4xxx), nVida GTX-285 (nVidia GT 2xx).

After reading your very informative link, it looks like the 1TB RAID 0 option basically gives me two individual 500 GB HDDs, correct? I am wanting to follow your advice concerning having multiple hard drives, each used for a specific purpose (OS/programs, media files, etc...). It looks like the most I can get with this HP configuration is two 500GB hard drives. I do use external hard drives, but would prefer to use them only for backups.

This is a perfect example of why it is better to choose the standard configuration from companies like Dell and HP and not enhance it with optional components.

Example: the HD5450 here is around € 50, the HD4850 is around € 110, both including 19% VAT. So the price difference is € 60. Deduct the VAT and the price difference is only € 50, yet they charge you around € 110 or $ 140, more than twice the regular price. They steal you blind.

Got it! I remember the "steal you blind" comment you had when going through your reference materials concerning PC configurations. Now I understand exactly what you mean. Thank so much for all you have done!

One last question which I posted and wanted to make sure you saw (so that I know I am understanding you correctly):

After reading your very informative link, it looks like the 1TB RAID 0 option basically gives me two individual 500 GB HDDs, correct? I am wanting to follow your advice concerning having multiple hard drives, each used for a specific purpose (OS/programs, media files, etc...). It looks like the most I can get with this HP configuration is two 500GB hard drives. I do use external hard drives, but would prefer to use them only for backups.

I haven't looked up the specific chassic from HP (mid-tower, full tower or whatever) but usually one can fit in much more disks inside the chassis.

I have a full tower chassis, that has 12 5.25" slots in the front. Currently I have 2 BR burners, leaving 10 5.25" slots with 14 3.5" disks in front (plus 3 disks in the back) and am still able to add 3 more disks for a total of 20 in my system.

If your HP chassis has 3 5.25"slots available, you can easily fit in 5 3.5" disks using a SuperMicro disk cage that I mentioned somewhere in one of those threads and they will be swappable as well.

It may require some DIY work, but get some additional disks from Newegg or similar for much better prices than HP, and install them yourself. Then you can add whatever capacity you want and all internally. Much easier than externals, specially since they can be easily swapped if you go for the SuperMicro disk cage.

Best thing to do would be to custom build one so that you know that it works with cs5. Don't get ATI. Adobe doesn't support them. You need a Nvidia card so that you can use the mercury playback engine. That is if you are getting CS5.

1. If I do go with the 1TB
RAID 0, will I have to disable the RAID 0 to have these two hard drives
work independently? Is this a complicated process to disable the RAID
0?

2.
Should I go with a different hard drive option, give the choices I have?

1. Yes, you can configure that in the Bios and it is not difficult, but even easier is to tell the supplier explicitly you want the disks as separate disks, not in a raid.

2. I would choose to have a physical Windows disk to allow installation on a smallish Velociraptor that you get from Newegg or similar. 150 G is enough. Then install Win7-64 on that Velocipator from the physical disk, and check what you want to keep from the software that was installed on the old boot disk. After you are done with that, and everything works as it should, you can remove everything from the old boot disk.

Thanks again for the advice. I did purchase the PC yesterday. I did go with the 1TB RAID0, but not sure I can tell HP to disable the RAID0. I also went with this video card: 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4650 [DVI, HDMI, VGA]. Will this be an issue as the other poster mentioned, Adobe not supporting ATI?

My next issue to tackle is my old software. I am posting on the software forums to get more advice on that. Having APP2.0, Encore2.0, and PS CS2, I still need to decide if I can run this programs with Win 7 or if I have to use the XP Mode or if it is best to upgrade the s/w. The only reason I would not upgrade is cost, especially after purchasing the new PC.

Just to be clear about it, all video cards that meet minimum requirements support the Mercury Playback Engine in software mode, ATI or nVidia. However, only certified cards run the MPE in hardware mode.